Master's Manna's pantry and dining room, GLOW's Friday pantry, the Foodshare truck, senior lunch and a free Thanksgiving dinner
Master's Manna: Pappas Family Food Pantry
Where: 428 South Cherry St.
When: By appointment: Mondays, 3 to 6 p.m.; Tuesdays, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Wednesdays, 3 to 7 p.m.; Thursdays, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Who can go: Residents of Wallingford, Meriden, Cheshire, Hamden, North Haven, North Branford, Northford, Durham and Middlefield. Registration is the only requirement, and once registered every household shops by appointment.
What to bring: ID for each person in the home (a photo ID, driver's license, passport, birth certificate, Social Security card, health insurance card or state ID) and proof of address, such as a recent utility bill, lease or rent receipt; ordinary mail does not count. Bring grocery bags.
Contact: 203-678-3042 · office@mastersmanna.org · mastersmanna.org
Wallingford residents who cannot leave home because of a health condition can ask about home delivery. The boxes are packed and delivered every Friday; call 203-678-3042 and ask for the executive director.
GLOW Food Pantry at The Rock Church
Where: 26 Parker Farms Road
When: Fridays, 4 to 5 p.m., according to the church. Call to confirm.
Who can go: Anyone. There is no sign-up and nothing to qualify for.
Contact: 203-208-8534, or text "Food" to 860-492-6444 · wallnazchurch.org
New Opportunities: Operation Pantry (Meriden)
Where: 22 Church St., Meriden
When: Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., according to the agency, which says the hours can change with demand. Call to confirm.
Who can go: Working families with low and middle incomes, older residents and people with disabilities in the Greater Meriden area who do not have enough to eat
What to bring: Shoppers give their name, address and household size and state their own income.
Contact: 203-639-5060 · newoppinc.org
Free meals
The meals at Master's Manna are planned and cooked fresh in the organization's own licensed kitchen, and the week's menu is posted on its website. Nobody registers, and there is no limit on how often a person comes back. Two more kitchens serve free lunches in Meriden.
Master's Manna Family Dining Center
Where: 428 South Cherry St.
When: Tuesdays and Thursdays, breakfast 9 to 11 a.m. and lunch 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Wednesdays, dinner 3 to 6:30 p.m.
Who can go: Anyone
Contact: 203-678-3042 · mastersmanna.org
Meriden Soup Kitchen (Meriden)
Where: First Baptist Church, 460 Broad St., Meriden
When: Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Who can go: Everyone; the meal is free.
Contact: 203-237-5529 · meridensoupkitchen.org
The Salvation Army, Meriden Corps (Meriden)
Where: 23 St. Casimir Drive, Meriden
When: Soup kitchen on Tuesdays and Thursdays, noon to 1 p.m. The corps also runs a food pantry on the second and fourth Thursdays of the month, 9:30 to 11:30 a.m.; call to ask whether it takes Wallingford households.
Contact: 203-235-6532 · salvationarmyusa.org
More help
The Senior Center on Washington Street is a stop for three kinds of help: Connecticut Foodshare's truck twice a month, a weekday lunch for people 60 and older, and a café where breakfast and lunch cost a few dollars. The town's social services office is in the municipal building on Fairfield Boulevard.
Foodshare at the Wallingford Senior Center
Where: 238 Washington St.
When: Every other Tuesday, 8:30 to 9:15 a.m.: October 20, November 3 and 17, and December 1, 15 and 29
Who can go: Anyone 16 or older who comes in person. No ID is needed and no questions are asked.
What to bring: Bags, a box or a small cart with wheels; each person takes home about 20 pounds of food on average.
Contact: 203-469-5000; text FOODSHARE to 85511 (COMIDA for Spanish) for dates and cancellations · Foodshare's calendar
Connecticut Foodshare cancels the stop when the town's schools close for the whole day because of weather.
Wallingford Youth & Social Services
Where: David Doherty Municipal Building, 6 Fairfield Blvd.
When: Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Who can go: Wallingford residents
Contact: 203-294-2175 · yss@wallingfordct.gov · wallingfordct.gov
The office handles emergency assistance, energy assistance and holiday assistance, and it refers residents to food programs.
Senior lunch at the Wallingford Senior Center
Where: 238 Washington St.
When: Weekdays, lunch at 11:40 a.m.
Who can go: People 60 and older. LifeBridge Community Services serves the meal, and a $3 donation is requested. Reserve at least 24 hours ahead by calling 203-265-3508 between 9 and 11 a.m.
Contact: 203-265-3508 · wlfdseniorctr.com
The center's Lake View Café is not free, but it costs little: breakfast from 9 to 10:30 a.m. and lunch from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on weekdays, with a cup of soup for $1.50 and the lunch special for $4. For people 60 and older who cannot get out, LifeBridge's Meals on Wheels brings a box of five chilled meals once a week in Wallingford; call 203-752-9919. The Agency on Aging of South Central Connecticut will also buy $100 in groceries, one time, for a homebound older adult whose income is at or below 150 percent of the federal poverty level; call 203-785-8533 and choose option 3.
School meals
Wallingford Public Schools takes applications for free and reduced-price meals online, from a phone, tablet or computer, through its food services page.
Thanksgiving and holiday help
Wallingford Community Dinners serves a free Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday, November 26, from noon to 2 p.m. at First Congregational Church, 23 South Main St. Everyone is welcome to come and eat. Homebound residents who sign up ahead get a meal brought to the door between 11 a.m. and noon; call 203-514-8883 to register for a delivery.
The United Way of Meriden and Wallingford collects Thanksgiving baskets and gives them out through more than 20 partner agencies, which enroll families they already serve. Families do not apply to the United Way. The agency or caseworker a family already works with is the one to ask, or call the United Way at 203-235-4403.
Youth & Social Services lists holiday assistance among its programs but has not posted 2026 details; call 203-294-2175.
Holiday for Giving, which gives toys to children ages 3 to 12 and food to Wallingford families in December, has not posted its 2026 dates yet. It is for Wallingford residents, and every application goes through Youth & Social Services, 203-294-2175, before a deadline that has not been announced.
SNAP, WIC and other help
SNAP, the monthly grocery benefit on an EBT card, can be applied for online at connect.ct.gov, by phone at 1-855-626-6632 on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., or in person at a Department of Social Services Resource Center. The nearest to Wallingford are at 50 Humphrey St. in New Haven and 2081 South Main St., Suite B, in Middletown, both open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The state answers within 30 days, and a household in an emergency, such as one with less than $150 a month in income and less than $100 in the bank, can hear within seven.
The Senior Center's social services coordinator helps people 60 and older apply, by appointment at 203-265-7753; younger residents are referred to Youth & Social Services. New Opportunities, the community action agency for Wallingford, screens applicants at 203-639-5060, and Connecticut Foodshare's SNAP line, 860-856-4357, helps in English and Spanish on weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
WIC serves pregnant women, new mothers, babies and children under 5, and the office for Wallingford is Bristol Health WIC, 165 Miller St., Meriden, 203-427-8733. Families with incomes at or below 185 percent of the federal poverty level qualify, and those on SNAP, HUSKY or Temporary Family Assistance meet the income rule automatically. The state's online interest form starts the process.
For anything else, dial 2-1-1 or search 211ct.org, which lists food programs town by town.
How to help
Master's Manna takes food at 428 South Cherry St. on weekdays from 9 a.m. to noon, on the north side of the building; other times can be arranged by phone. It accepts nonperishable food that is unopened and not expired, vegetables from home gardens, and food from a licensed kitchen as long as it was never set out on a buffet. Paper goods, personal care items and diapers, for babies and for adults, are welcome too. Checks go to PO Box 4032, Wallingford, CT 06492, and there is an Amazon wish list. Volunteers are needed in the kitchen and dining room and in the warehouse. Master's Manna does not take walk-in volunteers: each one fills out an application, a background check may be required, and each commits to a regular day for at least two months. The town says volunteers can be as young as 14, with consent for those under 16. Contact Executive Director Nancy Stockman, 203-678-3042, or by email at nstockman@mastersmanna.org.
GLOW needs help on Fridays from 3 to 6 p.m., when the food goes out; call 203-208-8534.
Wallingford Community Dinners has a volunteer form for its Thanksgiving dinner, and checks payable to Wallingford Community Dinners, Inc. go to PO Box 211, Wallingford, CT 06492.
Holiday for Giving takes toys and food for its December giveaway and needs volunteers for the event; write to holidayforgiving@gmail.com.
For the United Way's Thanksgiving baskets, donors fill a basket for at least four people with nonperishable food, add a $20 gift card for the family's choice of meat or other protein, and drop it off at the matched agency by Wednesday, November 18. Sign up with Julia Pelletier at jpelletier@unitedwaymw.org or 203-235-4403, ext. 1002.
Frequently asked questions
Can I eat at Master's Manna if I do not live in Wallingford?
Yes. The dining room is open to everyone, with no registration and no limit on visits. The pantry is the part with a town rule: it serves Wallingford and eight nearby towns.
What do I need to register at the Master's Manna pantry?
An ID for each person who lives with you and something recent with your address on it, such as a utility bill, lease or rent receipt. A piece of ordinary mail will not do. Bring bags when you shop.
Is there a pantry where I can just show up?
GLOW, on Fridays from 4 to 5 p.m., first come, first served. The Foodshare truck at the Senior Center, every other Tuesday at 8:30 a.m., asks for no ID.
Can someone bring food to my house?
Master's Manna delivers boxes on Fridays to Wallingford residents who are homebound because of a health condition (203-678-3042). LifeBridge's Meals on Wheels serves homebound people 60 and older (203-752-9919). On Thanksgiving Day, Wallingford Community Dinners delivers to homebound residents who sign up ahead (203-514-8883).
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